In this episode, Pieter and special guest-host Erin Scrimger (Archivist, History and Public Policy Program) speak with NATO Archives Public Disclosure Officer Nick Nguyen about the 70th anniversary of Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe and what documents and materials are available in their archives that chronicle its founding.

ASEAN member states find themselves on the frontline of U.S.-China competition. Russia’s involvement in Southeast Asia complicates an easy characterization of Russia-China alignment and speaks to its pursuit of its own strategic and economic interests in the region. In Vietnam, Russia has long enjoyed close ties to the ruling regime, and Russian oil firm Rosneft operates an oil well within waters that China claims fall inside its “nine dash line.” In the Philippines, Russia has worked closely with President Rodrigo Duterte and actively considered joint energy development projects in the South China Sea. Elsewhere, Russia serves as a significant arms supplier for some of the region’s militaries, and it has recently come under fire for its acceptance of Myanmar’s military takeover. What drives Russia’s renewed interest in Southeast Asia? How will Russia manage its ties to both China and its partners in the South China Sea? Will Russia continue to expand its involvement in the region beyond economic and security ties?

Dr. Amy Searight, Senior Associate for Asia with CSIS, joined the Wilson Center’s Kennan Institute and Asia Program to discuss Russia’s role in Southeast Asia and its future trajectory.

Speakers:

Amy Searight - Senior Associate for Asia, Center for Strategic and International Studies

Lucas Myers - Program Associate, Asia Program

Moderator:

Abraham Denmark - Director, Asia Program

n this episode of Americas 360, our Wilson Center experts review the political repercussions faced by President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil stemming from his mishandling of the pandemic, the outcome of recently held elections in Ecuador and Peru, and forthcoming elections in Mexico and tentatively in Canada and why these are so crucial to the hemisphere and beyond.

Fifty percent of entrepreneurs in Brazil are women—but they face an uphill battle to keep their businesses open. Renata Malheiros Henriques, the National Coordinator for Women Entrepreneurship Projects at the Brazilian small business association Sebrae, wants to change this. Under Renata’s leadership, Sebrae launched a country-wide project called Sebrae Delas to support female entrepreneurship and encourage innovation—a mission that has only grown more important as the COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately pushes women from the workforce. After the episode, visit www.sebrae.com.br/delas to learn more.

The Soviet pilot Yuri Gagarin made his pioneering spaceflight 60 years ago. In the USSR, it marked a time of optimistic, forward-looking modernization, of which the Soviet space program was the hallmark.

Maxim Trudolyubov discusses the Soviet-American space race and today’s newfound space enthusiasm with Victoria Smolkin, associate professor of history and Russian studies at Wesleyan University and Asif Siddiqi, professor of history at Fordham University.

In the past 70 years, the relationship between India and the Soviet Union, and now Russia, has historically been stable and mutually beneficial. However, cracks are beginning to appear. Russia’s growing alignment with China, a major rival of India, is proving to be a sticking point. There is also growing anxiety in Moscow over New Delhi’s deepening security ties with Washington, both bilaterally and through the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue. Additionally, Russia appears to be increasing its relations with Pakistan, a potential concern for India. At the same time, Russia is the largest arms supplier to India which has purchased the S-400 missile system, much to the consternation of the United States. How will India manage relations with Russia as Russia grows closer to a more assertive China, while at the same time balancing its growing ties with the United States and U.S. allies?

On April 22, 2021, Nandan Unnikrishnan, Distinguished Fellow at the Observer Research Foundation, joined the Wilson Center’s Kennan Institute and Asia Program for a conversation on the current status and future trajectory of India-Russia relations.

Speakers:

Nandan Unnikrishnan - Distinguished Fellow, Observer Research Foundation

Michael Kugelman - Deputy Director and Senior Associate for South Asia, Asia Program

Moderator:

Matthew Rojansky - Director, Kennan Institute

Nearly sixty years after the Cuban missile crisis and thirty years after the end of the Cold War, today’s leaders appear capable of repeating the dangerous precedents of the past. In order to better understand and manage the major nuclear challenges of the 21st century, the lessons of the past should be considered. Serhii Plokhii’s new book, Nuclear Folly: A History of the Cuban Missile Crisis, offers an international perspective on the crisis, tracing the tortuous decision-making that produced and then resolved it. In this book talk, he illustrated the drama and anxiety of those tense days, drawing on a range of Soviet archival sources and White House tapes, and explained how to grapple with the problems posed in the present.

Speaker:

Serhii Plokhii - Former Short Term Scholar; Mykhailo Hrushevsky Professor of Ukrainian History, Harvard University

Moderator:

Jill Dougherty - Global Fellow; Former CNN Foreign Affairs Correspondent

A new roundtable features Monica Pham and Natalee Binkholder, two former hill staffers who helps us go inside the hallowed halls in search of bipartisanship hiding in plain sight.

On October 22, 1962, American families gathered around their televisions for an address by President Kennedy. What they heard shocked them. In this episode of KennanX, Jill Dougherty revisits the Cuban Missile Crisis, uncovering lessons learned - and forgotten - with Serhii Plokhii, Director of the Ukrainian Research Institute at Harvard University and author of the new book, Nuclear Folly: A History of the Cuban Missile Crisis.

April 12 is the UN's International Day of Human Space Flight. Officially celebrated in Russia as the Cosmonautics Day, in 2021 it marked 60 years since Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space. This Soviet accomplishment came at the height of the Cold War and not only affected the bilateral relationship, but also inspired American and Soviet citizens alike. Despite their fierce competition, the United States and the Soviet Union also managed to identify opportunities for cooperation in the exploration of outer space, which culminated in the joint Apollo-Soyuz mission in 1975. Today, when bilateral tensions are high again, space remains one of the few remaining areas of productive interaction between Russia and the U.S. In this panel, our experts considered the enduring legacy of Yuri Gagarin’s flight and its effects on popular culture and scientific innovation in the two countries, and discussed the dynamic of space competition and collaboration since that flight.

Speakers:

Slava Gerovitch - Lecturer, Department of Mathematics, MIT

Cathleen Lewis - Curator, International Space Programs and Spacesuits, Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum

Asif Siddiqi - Professor, Department of History, Fordham University

Moderator:

Joseph Dresen - Senior Program Associate, Kennan Institute